Mother’s Work Status and Infant Mortality in Ethiopia: a Study Based on Demographic and Health Survey Data
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Date
2003-02
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Addis Abeba university
Abstract
Despite its many advantages, the work of women in economic activities in Ethiopia has been
associated with increased and decreased mortality of infants. Thus, this study examines whether
these conclusions are upheld at the level of the typical Ethiopian mother.
Using data from the Ethiopia Demographic and health Survey (EDHS) in year 2000, the effect of
work status of mothers on infant survival is investigated at country level. The study uses
information on 15,367 women of age 15-49 included in the survey for the entire country. The
effect of work is also evaluated separately by type of work whether the work is
professional/technical/clerical or agricultural/manual. Cox regression model is used to examine
the association between infant mortality and mother’s work stuatus.
Using the Kaplan-Meier estimation technique, the univariate analysis shows that survival of
infants is 93.2 percent with standard deviation of 0.0060. The bivariate comparison of infant
mortality rates for the period two years before the survey according to mother’s work status
reveals that mothers who are working had no significant difference on infant mortality from
mothers who are not working. These results are largely upheld in the multivariate analysis.
However, according to the type of work, the relative risk of infant mortality for
agricultural/manual is 1.170 times higher than non-workers. The risk of death is also significantly
lower among professional/technical/clerical workers (32 percent) than non-working mothers.
Multivariate analysis assesses the strength of apparent association between work status of the
mother and infant mortality by controlling other characteristics likely to influence the outcomes.
The relative risks associated with several other variables are statistically significant and in the
expected direction. Among these factors the length of the preceding birth interval for infants
exerted an expected beneficial effect on the hazard ratio of infants. There is also evidence of a
strong detrimental effect of the birth order on the hazard ratio of infant death. As expected, being
first born significantly increases the probability of dying at infant stage. The risk of infant death
is higher in those who are not married than married; among other variables the probability of
infant death will be lower if the mother is educated
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Demographic and Health Survey Data